Buzz Out Loud 992: WWDC: What Will Data Cost

We recap all the announcements from Apple's WWDC keynote, especially ruminating on what the tethering app will cost for AT&T customers. We also rant a bit about the new prices for current iPhone conferences. And don't forget Snow Leopard people. That lo

We recap all the announcements from Apple's WWDC keynote, especially ruminating on what the tethering app will cost for AT&T customers. We also rant a bit about the new prices for current iPhone conferences. And don't forget Snow Leopard people. That looks like a good upgrade for a very affordable price.

OS X Snow Leopard
Exchange support in Mail, Calendar and Contacts
Crash Resistance. A bad plug-in won’t crash whole browser.
$29 Upgrade.
$49 Family pack.
$10 ‘handling fee’ if you buy a new Mac between now and the September release.
$169 non-upgrade price but includes iLifehttp://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10259248-56.html

Apple selling the OS X upgrade at $29.00 is obviously a stab at Microsoft. According to Paul Thurotte on Windows weekly, Microsoft planned on selling the Windows 7 upgrade between $79, for the basic edition, to over $200, for the ultimate edition. Now Microsoft has 2 choices.

Choice 1: Sell Windows 7 at a similarly low price. This means that Microsoft would have to sell many more copies than they originally planned in order to get a good return on their investment.

Choice 2: Sell Windows 7 at their original target price. As soon as they would announce these prices, Apple would put new commercials of PC vs MAC where they would compare their prices and show that Windows is more expensive than Mac. This would be a stab directly at Microsoft’s current “I’m a PC” ads showing that Macs are too expensive.

Either way, Apple has put Microsoft in a position that they did not want to be in. After the Vista PR nightmare, the upgrade to Windows 7 is the most anticipated Windows upgrade since going from 3.1 to 95. Apple had to try to take that away from Microsoft.

Love the Show.

Geff,
Geek at Large
Port-au-Prince, Haiti

*****
Guys,

I am sold on the 3GS. The feature set is a rock solid upgrade and kills
almost all the reasons a Palm Pre would be in the running. Still, the
weak link is AT & T, which I hate. But, I hate all carriers, so it is a
wash. Some of the limitations that ATT will put on the phone’s
usability, like tethering, will be negated by the jailbreaking
community, who will enable it. I doubt we will see a Pre jailbreaking
community. So, I still say that the only answer for Sprint (not Palm,
because they will be spreading the device over other carriers) is to
become the value brand. Offer better data packages and cheaper plans.
Otherwise, they are toast when the Pre hits Verizon.